The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) requested the resignation of Department of Health Sec. Enrique Ona after he purportedly “disregarded” the interests of health workers in an interview where he gave an indefinite answer when asked about the effect of the corporatization of public government hospitals on the security of tenure of health workers.
AHW said in an official statement that the security of health workers’ tenure is among the litigious issues that crop up with regard to the privatization of public hospitals and delivery of health care, and Ona’s reply of “Depende, depende sa usapan” shows his disregard of health workers’ welfare.
Based on the statement, AHW also challenges the DOH’s stand regarding corporatization and privatization by saying that although this will improve the facilities in public hospitals, it does not necessarily result in free and better services for all Filipinos as evidenced by the corporatized National Kidney and Transplant Institute which upholds the “No pay, No Hook” policy.
AHW maintains that private investors only seek profit from their investment, therefore they could not be expected to advocate the delivery of free health services, the Business Mirror reported.
